Generally, the network configuration data management system provides the facilities for managing the network information for network components composing the network, such as physical or logical devices and links interconnecting the devices.
The configuration data that is managed by the network configuration data management system may be referenced when additional network facilities are installed to meet the needs of users utilizing the network or the existing routes through the network are changed.
In order to respond to the demands for various network services from the users, it is desirable that network service providers should plan for the network operation in order to accommodate any network components such as devices that are expected to be added, and to allow the optimum routes to be established.
One example of the conventional network configuration management system is described in Japanese Patent Kokai Publication JP-A-H3 (1991)-204067, for example, which proposes a network configuration management method implemented by a computer program that allows the physical relationships among the adjacent devices and routes configured in the network to be mapped onto the main memory, thereby allowing the network configuration information to be referenced and updated by using the logical address calculation.
In the conventional network configuration management method mentioned above, the physical relationships among the network components, such as the network devices, the routes between the stations or nodes and the connections between the devices, cables and power supplies, that are included in the current network configuration, as well as the logical relationships among the communication lines connecting the terminals, may be recorded on the memory in a mapping table format.